By Amelia Jeffirs, Truth Staff
ajeffirs@etruth.com
ELKHART -- After RV manufacturing company Monaco Coach Corp. announced 1,400 layoffs countywide, Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore said it all: "I don't know where we can go right now."
The glum feeling among city and county officials follows their surprise at the company's announcement Thursday to shut down plants in Elkhart, Wakarusa and Nappanee this fall.
"In the state of the economy, we knew we were headed for a slowdown in the RV industry," said Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder, also a board member with the Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County. "We hoped to weather it out with a few minor hits."
And commissioners weren't the only ones.
People "have been on pins and needles" about when the big hit in the economy was coming, said Kyle Hannon, vice president of public policy at the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce.
"We had hoped we missed it," he said.
Based on its previous layoffs, Moore said, he thought Monaco had achieved what it needed in the spring.
And Craig Wanichek, corporate Monaco Coach spokesman, said as much this spring following 600 layoffs from plants in Wakarusa, Elkhart and Warsaw.
There is "no need for further layoffs," he told The Truth in April.
But apparently, things kept going wrong for the company.
A Monaco Coach representative informed Nappanee Mayor Larry Thompson a month ago about the closure of the Nappanee plant, Thompson said. But he had been told the work would move to the Wakarusa area, he said, and was not left with any indication of the layoffs.
"I think it'll get worse before it gets better. And Elkhart County sure is taking the brunt of it," Thompson said of the local RV industry. "Somehow we're just going to have to deal with it."
And Dorinda Heiden, president of the Economic Development Corp. of Elkhart County, agreed, saying she anticipates more layoffs in the RV industry.
In the meantime, she and EDC board members are encouraging those who lost their jobs to take advantage of coming help.
"This county has survived lumps in the RV industry before. This is a big hit, but we'll survive. We'll come out stronger," Yoder said.
The EDC has sought federal assistance, Yoder said, but is working to draw non-RV-related companies -- and jobs -- to the area.
"If there is a silver lining in all of this, companies have been looking to relocate here," he said. "On the horizon, there are more jobs coming to Elkhart County. But it's a long process."
Other local officials share Yoder's optimism for Elkhart County's economic future.
The Elkhart Chamber is working on plans to make Elkhart a more appealing place to relocate businesses, bringing new jobs, Hannon said.
Agencies within Elkhart County offer their own incentives to draw business, he said. But having no uniform incentive standards throughout Elkhart County makes business relocation more complicated than in rival counties, he said.
The proposal has been met with some resistance, Hannon said, but "this is an indication that we need to push this."
Mayor Moore's office is working to draw jobs to the area by holding a summit in mid-September, inviting representatives from companies interested in moving and educational institutions.
The idea is to get higher-paying jobs to Elkhart and retain them, he said.
Until then, concern for those who lost their jobs and the impact the layoffs will have throughout the county soars.
These are people with families and bills to pay, said David Daugherty, president of the Goshen Chamber of Commerce. Their loss will also be felt elsewhere, he said, as they won't be able to frequent restaurants, retail stores and other venues that depend on their business.
Truth reporter Tom Lange contributed to this story.